Acala Network, Karura Receive Backing from Coinbase Ventures

Polkadot’s decentralized financial hub Acala today welcomed Coinbase Ventures into its rapidly expanding ecosystem.

Coinbase Ventures Backs Acala and Karura for Polkadot DeFi

In an announcement made on April 1, Acala Network – the decentralized financial hub and stablecoin of Polkadot that enables fast and easy to use or build financial applications – stated it had received backing from Coinbase Ventures.

In addition to Acala – the all-in-one DeFi hub on Polkadot – the investment by Coinbase Ventures also supports the Karura, the DeFi hub of Kusama being developed by the Acala team.

For the uninitiated, Acala is an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain optimized for decentralized finance (DeFi). The team behind Acala has also developed a full suite of DeFi applications on top of the blockchain network to enable four core products:

1) Liquid DOT staking (LDOT)

2) Acala Dollar (aUSD)

3) Acala DEX

4) Acala’s decentralized sovereign wealth fund (dSWF)

Acala Team Prepared for Parachain Auctions

The Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem parachain auctions are nearing and several promising projects in the Polkadot ecosystem are eyeing the valuable parachain slots.

Acala is no different as its team’s path to launch is multi-fold and requires community support. The team would first need to win a parachain slot on Kusama to launch Karura. Next, it will have to win a parachain slot on Polkadot to enable Acala to launch on the high-throughput network.

Notably, both of the aforementioned auctions will be bootstrapped by the Karura and Acala communities. The objective behind such a level of community participation is to ensure the networks are supported by a wide range of backers. Learn more about Karura’s approach to parachain auctions here.

Enabling DeFi in Polkadot, Kusama Ecosystems

The launch of Karura on Kusama will enable the Kusama community to access Karura-based DeFi products. It is worthy of note that Karura will bring the Karura Dollar (kUSD), Karura’s AMM-style DEX, and liquid KSM staking (LKSM) to the Kusama ecosystem.

Karura will also be an EVM-compatible layer-1 chain, the announcement reads.

It adds:

“The aim is to win the very first slot on Kusama’s network for Karura, in order to provide essential, foundational financial products that can be leveraged by all other parachains and DApps that will launch on the network.”

To try Acala and Karura’s robust and innovative DeFi applications, check out the Getting Started guide here.